Les began reading the text aloud as he followed the words spiraled around the column. "'And Torvid blessed the earth with his perfect essence, unbroken by time and space. Here is his soul, the crystal heart of the Barrier Mountains, to anchor us to the divine plane forever.'" The text ended at chest-height, replaced by a row of the whitestone. Les snorted, "Well, that is supremely unhelpful, unless she expects us to cut out the column."
"Look at this, though." Aia was on her knees with a hand pressed against the apparently smooth stone. As she rubbed her fingers across the surface, brittle pieces began to chip away in the shape of words. They had been filled in long ago.
s t> Les and Teveres set to work helping her, each taking a third of the column. They worked quickly, if only so they could leave the foreboding chamber as soon as possible. The Kaldari stood silent, not even bothering to watch them work. Minutes passed, and a hidden narrative began to take form.
'As the gods gifted the world with the healer Torvid, they also sent the Deldri messengers from the divine plane. We seal this chamber so they may absorb the light when the dark days come.'
Once the three of them read the inscription they stood together, puzzled. Teveres stared at the column looking for answers, finding nothing but the blankness of naked rock. He growled low in his throat; "The old priests were cryptic. They liked to sound more interesting than they truly were."
"I'm pretty interested," Les replied, tipping his head to the side as he stared at the stone. "They wrote it for us. It has to mean something."
Teveres frowned. "Someone also tried to hide it."
"They hid a lot of things about the Deldri after the Godking was killed."
"I just wonder what else they're hiding." Teveres idly reached out to feel what he believed would be cold, hard whitestone. He almost leapt back when he found that the stone was comfortably warm. Whitestone, much like marble, normally felt cold to the touch.
"Put your hands on here," he told Les.
Skeptical, Les hesitantly reached a hand out to the stone. The intensity of the heat rose, nearly too hot to touch. Les's eyes widened.
"Aia," said Teveres, "You should do it, too."
"Do what?"
Les reached out to take her hand and placed it on the stone. The temperature continued to rise with all three of them touching it.
"I don't understand," said Aia, "What is this supposed to mean?"
"Maybe we're supposed to... do... something?" Les searched the ceiling for answers.
"It's responding to our energy. It stands to reason that it would respond more if we gave it more," Teveres offered.
"How would you propose we do that?" asked Aia.
"All three of us can concentrate on energy in one form or another, whether the two of you realize it or not. If we concentrate on the stone and pour the energy in..."
"If we do that?" Les prompted impatiently.
"I'm just guessing," Teveres snapped.
"It's worth a try. Let's do it." Aia closed her eyes, drawing her focus outwards. The shift in her energy changed the balance of the room.
Reluctantly, Les did the same. Teveres followed.
For a moment, nothing happened. Teveres was just about to remove his hand from the stone when it finally changed. The heat in the stone began to rise again, so hot it was nearly scorching. All three opened their eyes at the discomfort, bound to the stone by pure curiosity.
A low rumbling came from the column as the seams where the whitestone met sandstone began to separate. The upper half of the column recessed into the ceiling, the discordant trace of energy humming louder.
Beneath the stone shroud was pedestal holding a tall block of pitch-black crystal. Its knife-edge lines sharp enough to cut flesh. The off-tune resonance Teveres felt when he entered the room was centered within the crystal. He had no interest in touching it.
In the time it took for them to stare dumbfounded at the crystal, there was a truncated shout and the clatter of steel on stone. The lowest-ranked Kaldari had been dropped by a wiry young priest in the main chamber while the Deldri were caught up in their task.
Teveres reached out to grab the edge of Aia's sleeve too late to catch her before she bolted through the doorway. Garren and the female Kaldari were holding him off, but poorly; the priest had a block of kelspar in one hand, and was using it to create an invisible shield of force between himself and his assailants.
Aia was headed for the fallen warrior. Her presence attracted the attention of the priest, who immediately went after her. He went down in a somersault, aiming to catch her off-guard.
Going after him at a run, Teveres threw himself between Aia and the priest, one hand on the man's throat and the other on the priest's wrist. His grip was tight, his shoulder throbbing in protest. He let his anger touch the priest, his resonance humming around the man's energy. The priest's green eyes locked with Teveres's.
"We were about to leave," Teveres's voice had the same rumbling quality as the column. "You should leave too."
"What - in the - skies-"
Another notch of control dropped and the man tried to shout in pain. Teveres's hand clamped down harder. "Ask no questions, child. You should leave this place."
"Rather - die -"
Teveres was prepared to oblige when Aia spoke into his mind.
Wait.
She came up behind the priest with a syringe in hand. Pressing a needle to a vein in his neck, she injected a yellow fluid. The priest began to sag against Teveres's hold until he had to
be guided to the floor.
Aia gave Teveres a grim smile. "If only this tactic worked for all of them."
Garren was quick to bend down next to the fallen warrior, picking through the man's possessions for items of use. There was a pool of blood under a deep cut in the Kaldari's neck.
Garren shook his head. "He is dead."
"Then come get your crystal," Teveres said roughly, "And let's get the hell away from here."
Chapter 9
The blood was everywhere, all over Aia's skin and clothes. Some of it was hers, some the blood of others. She stared at her palms where it had seeped into the patterns in her hands as she walked. There was too much blood - and not enough.
Never in her life had she seen so much sudden death. In the clinics she felt the warning signs of a fading life ring hollow in her chest well before it occurred. The way Teveres killed was unlike anything she could have imagined. She still couldn't think straight, unsettled by the way his energy savagely destroyed everything around it. Even after viewing the memories of his past kills, nothing prepared Aia for the creeping sick feeling every time he took a life. It nearly tore her apart trying to shield the Deldri and the Kaldari when Teveres lost control. She still wondered if this was all a peri-morbid dream, and in reality they were lying on the temple floor on the edge of death.
Standing close enough to Les to brush his arm, she avoided Teveres. Teveres walked alone, because even the Kaldari were terrified of him. He was raw power, the decider between life and death. He needed no permission.
They made it out of the temple without any further entanglements. It was still night, the light of a half-moon bright enough to see in shadow. The locks had held on the doors, and as yet no priests were attempting to breach them. Looking down from the landing outside the temple entrance, the village at the bottom of the 100 steps was ghostly quiet. The warriors Drei sent into the town were invisible from their vantage point. If they had already taken the city, there had not been much of a fight. There were no bodies in the streets. All the bodies would seem to be in the temple where Teveres left them.
The fourth Kaldari guard (or more accurately the third, since one was dead) was standing beside the door. He held a sizable jug with both hands, and addressed Garren when everyone was safely on the landing. Exchanging few words, the guard slipped back inside the temple. Garren turned to follow him.
"Wait," Aia said before Garren could go through. "What's going on?"
She c
ould hear liquid being poured just inside the temple doors. Teveres, who looked halfway in a stupor, jumped at the sound.
"There are two exits," Garren said simply. "This will not take long."
Realization dawned on Teveres before Aia connected the statements with the pouring of the jug. Breaking through the haze of pain and fatigue, Teveres lunged for Garren, one hand pulled into a fist.
He was met instantly with a sharp right hook from Garren, knocking him into the door. Aia felt the surge in Teveres's power and saw the fire in his eyes when he tempered it. Teveres reached for his blade, and so did Garren-
And then Les stepped in.
Aia gaped at the heretofore quiet, compliant politician who stood between two experience killers, a palm out in front of each of them. If he was terrified, he didn't show it. She held perfectly still, afraid that any movement would set off an irreversible reaction between the three.
"You said there are two exits," Les spoke quickly, willing both Teveres and Garren to stand down. "What does that mean to you?"
"This is wasting time," Garren growled.
Teveres's eyes glittered dangerously. "I'm about to waste you," he hissed.
"Explain your plan," Les implored the Kaldari, who was looking taller by the minute in comparison to Les's much smaller frame.
"We set the fire in the main room. We shout. If they are smart, they run into the tunnels."
"Away from the city," Teveres finished on Garren's behalf.
"If they are smart, they do not die." Garren raised his eyebrows at Les and easily, calmly grabbed hold of Les's arm and forced it down to his side. "I do not make decisions for people who chose to be stupid."
"And what if they get out through the front?" said Teveres.
"Then that is what they do. I do not wish them dead."
Les relaxed just slightly, and Teveres backed away from the precipice of killing. Garren swiftly ducked inside the door, whispered words in Kaldari exchanged beyond.
Les slid his hands through his hair to hold on to his head. He leaned against the door, his shoulders heaving up and down. Without the need to hold it together in the moment, he came apart like any normal human being would. Of course, nothing about their evening had been normal.
Aia wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't belong in this place, at this time. She didn't belong outside a building that the Kaldari were about to set on fire with the anticipation that maybe its inhabitants would make a run for it.
Teveres, for his part, did nothing. He stood straight, eyes forward, staring listlessly into the distance. Even when there was shouting from inside the temple and Garren banged on the doors yelling "FIRE!" Teveres did not budge.
The light of the flames licked through the double doors. Garren burst through with his remaining guards in tow, taking the stairs at a quick stride, but not at a run. The guards prodded the hrot size="+0">Deldri in their backs to goad them forward.
Their descent was not overly fast, and yet Aia's heart was still pounding.
This isn't right. None of this is right, she projected to Teveres.
He kept his thoughts deep in his consciousness, where she did not dare try to reach them. He only walked.
They trudged in between the houses, up towards the lodge. Aia could feel the people inside peering at them through curtains and blinds, but saw no trace of them. The braided Kaldari woman carried the black crystal, almost half her height, like a heavy oversized torch.
At the top of the stairs to the lodge, Garren withdrew his ball of kelspar.
Aia bit her lip. "Is that really necessary?"
"If he does not, Drei will not come. For all of you, this is best," said Garren.
Teveres nodded slightly. He still did not speak, even as he presented himself for his metaphysical shackling.
Aia jerked in anticipation of the thud of kelspar against Teveres's chest. This time Teveres remained standing, the pain drowned out by the painkillers she'd given him earlier and tension coursing through his veins.
All of this to save one person. Somehow Aia questioned the cost, but she couldn't say that to Teveres. There was very little that could get worse - or so she hoped.
Garren motioned them all inside the main lobby, closing the door behind him. Aia didn't care to speculate on what he was up to. She imagined it had something to do with Drei. She wanted to get Teveres alone, as stupid as she knew it was. She should fear him or revile him, but she didn't feel any of those things. She didn't know what to feel
The lobby with its many tables and chairs was still completely empty. The two living Kaldari set themselves up behind the bar with their block of crystal, talking softly between themselves. They kept watchful eyes on the Deldri even as they maintained a healthy distance. Good.
Les, the only non-bleeding member of the expedition, audibly collapsed into a chair with a smoke lit in his mouth. He was massaging his temples, shoulders heavy with stress. Teveres almost moved to sit next to Les, but thought better of it, instead taking a seat further away. Their nascent friendship was not yet stable enough for him to trust.
Teveres held the necklace Garren gave him on the day they were picked up from Layvin's Embrace with the same vacant look in his eyes. He fiddled with it, passing it from hand to hand over and over. The nervous tic was making Aia uncomfortable.
She took a chance, sitting at the table across from him.
"Yes?" his voice was low so Kce tting a the Kaldari could not hear.
To keep from staring at him, Aia began applying her talgas salve to her neck, the same compound she used to seal Teveres's thigh. Even though she expected the burning sensation it brought, she still winced.
"You don't have anything to say?" She asked quietly.
"No, I don't."
"How is your leg? Your shoulder?"
His smile did not reach his eyes. "After all of that you seriously want to know if I'm in pain."
"They didn't give you a choice."
"There's always a choice." He wrapped the necklace around his wrist, his hands still. "I always choose myself in the end. Every time."
"Doesn't everyone?"
"You think that everyone in my position would kill to get what they want?"
"I think a lot of people would." She hesitated, "I think that I would."
"Is that so?" He looked at her with a peculiar glint in his eye.
There was shouting from beyond the lodge's front door, the words in angry Kaldari. Aia could identify the voices of Garren and Drei. The rusting hinges on the door squealed and Garren stepped through, 5 Kaldari trailing behind him that Aia had not seen before.
Four men and one woman presented, each wearing a unique, prominent tattoo over their left cheekbone. Their clothing, all in browns and blacks, was more elaborate than the warriors they had seen before. Each wore a necklace made of a specific material - one of wood, one of snakeskin, one of shells, one of seeds, and one of feathers. Two of them, the deep-brown skinned man of feathers and the pale-skinned woman of snakeskin, had bows slung over one shoulder. All of them brandished the traditional Kaldari sword.
It was clear that the newcomers were powerful in their respective circles. They walked like they owned the room, stationing themselves at equal distance apart between the Deldri and the door. Drei was amongst the last to enter with a restrained Veni in tow. A lower-ranking warrior from earlier held a blade to Veni's throat as she walked, a thin trickle of blood showing where the blade had pierced her skin. Veni's dark blue eyes acknowledged them all only briefly.
Though she did not know the girl well, Aia mourned for her. Veni's world was truly broken and senseless. Veni genuinely believed that Teveres killed his own parents. In her mind, she was carrying the child of a psychotic killer.
Of course, the line between psychotic killer and empathetic victim of circumstance was starting to blur. Perhaps there really was no difference.
The Kaldari from behind the bar approached Drei with the crystal from Torvid's Rest. A twisted smile grew on Dre
i's face as she gently caressed the stone.
"You have done well, son of Dayle," she told him.
Teveres stood and approached her, dagger in one hand and the other clenched in a fist at his side. His resonance was still humming like it was capped, but he did not let Drei see his pain. Aia caught a glimpse of Garren's face, completely unreadable. His features might well have been made of stone.
"I've done what you asked," said Teveres.
"Mm..." Drei snapped orders at her warriors, prompting them to set the stone behind the barricade of leaders.
The warrior with the blade on Veni's neck released her with a shove, nearly putting her on the ground. Veni yelped, stuck midway between the Kaldari who kidnapped her and the man she hated. She struggled against the rope binding her hands behind her back.
Drei inclined her head. "You do not ask what this is?"
"I don't care." Teveres seethed, "I want you gone, now."
"We have time now. We can talk. You are still a wanted man, you know. We could help each other."
"Not interested." Teveres reached out to pull Veni closer, but she flinched. He stepped back, giving her more room. "I'll be just fine on my own."
"I told you that she would be free," said Drei, "I said nothing about you."
"I dare you to take me." Teveres smiled the way a rabid dog would, his teeth barred. Drei's words amused and engaged him.
Are you listening? Teveres's thoughts floated close to the surface.
I'm always listening, Aia replied promptly.
Uncap me.
What? What makes you think I-
Just try.
But I-
Now.
Aia reached her hand towards Teveres under the table and closed her eyes. She was tired - near exhausted from the trauma in the temple. The kelspar she wore around her neck was warm against her skin as she called on its well of power. She identified the discordance just as she had done the night she met Teveres and coaxed it back where it should go.
Focus, focus, focus. There was shouting and someone took her by the shoulders, lifting her out of the chair and off her feet, which was somewhat fortunate. Her knees went weak from the ice pick of pain in her skull.
Tragedy (Forsaken Lands) Page 14